1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information reader, an object, an information processing apparatus, an information communicating system, an information reading method, and a program in which an image of an object is read to acquire information embedded in the image.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, there has been widely used an information reader which reads an image of an object such as a bar code using a small-sized camera or scanner to thereby attain information buried in the image. Representative examples of such information readers are a bar code reader for merchandise management and a cellular phone including a camera capable of reading a two-dimensional bar code (2D code). In addition, a radio-frequency (RF) tag and an information reading apparatus to read information from an RF have increasingly come into wide spread. To read an object by such an information reader, even if a position or an angle of the reader with respect to the object, for example, a tag or a bar code, is varied, information attained from an image of the object is ordinarily kept unchanged so long as the position or the angle is within a range enabling the reader to obtain an image of the object.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-261751 entitled “Image Authentication System and Method” describes an information reader of the conventional art. The conventional technique includes an identifier related to an object, a receiver to inspect the identifier to resultantly generate identifier information, a camera to record an image of the identifier, and a composite generator that encodes the identifier information sent from the receiver to create composite data according to the image obtained by the camera.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-127990 entitled “Information Communication System” describes another example of the information reader of the conventional art. In the communication system, a camera shoots an image of an object including a person. Before transmitting the image in a real-time operation via a predetermined communication path (network) to a desired transmission destination, an image recognizer decomposes the person and a background of the image into mutually different objects. Thereafter, a converted image selector converts the respective objects into mutually different images to transfer the obtained images to the communicating party.
However, the conventional information readers are attended with a problem that the information acquired from the object is kept unchanged in any situation and it is not possible to change the information through a simple operation in the image reading process. This is because the information indicating a reading state of the information reader relative to the object, e.g., a positional relationship or an angle therebetween is used only for correction. That is, the information is not employed as significant or meaningful information in the information reading operation. Further, any person can read the information using the information reader. If it is desired to restrict acquisition of the information in the object, there arises a problem that an authentication procedure is additionally required.